Hi, Snapshot1927! You have to realize that ANY digital camera screen is prone to damage if not cared for.... Aside from it, how did you like the quality of images on your Sony DSCW1 ? Is not having a BIG screen a big plus? Was the screen visible at sunny outdoors? There are also a pentax optio s41 or casio exilims40, smaller than the W1, but is the quality the same?> after all a SONY does hace great color rendition! Does anyone else agree with me?

I just bought my first digicam and went with the W1. Mainly,I switched so that I could carry it in my purse. After one week the LCD was damaged I believe from carrying it in my purse.

Sorry about your cam. i didnt realize that it would be that prone to damage? Anyone else with this kind of experience? I guess putting the camra in my pant pocket would be a big mistake then? If thats the case, then would it be safe to assume putting a T1 in your pocket would cause to LCD to be damaged as well? Anyone with this kind of experience?

Right now im still leaning towards the W1. Cuz if i buy a T1 or a P100 then chances are i still wont be able to carry the camera in my pant pocket because i might damage the LCD, making its small form factor quite useless...

It's no more damage prone then any device with an LCD screen in it. Most LCD screens are easily scratched, especiallyif carried in tight quarters with other objects. I've used a Pocket PC for many years, and I'm sure any other Pocket PC or Palm Pilot owners can attest to the fragility of LCD screens. If you are carrying a W1 or P100 or any small digital camera in your pocket, do not put it in the same pocket that you also have your keys or coins in. Don't put it in a tight pocket either, because the camera needs a little give to protect it from impacts. I also keep the LCD side facing my leg so that anything coming from the outside won't impact the screen.

If you're carrying it in a purse, same goes for keeping it away from keys, coins and other hard objects. If your purse has a soft side pocket in it, that would be ideal. Overpacked purses increase the risk of damage, I'd imagine. The W1 is also small enough to fit in many soft slipcover cases you'd buy for eye glasses. I don't think that would increase bulk too much.

I bought the custom semi-hard case from Sony that is made just to fit the W1. The camera fits in it very nicely and the case itself would easily fit in a purse. A little big for a pocket, however, it has a convenient belt loop which makes the pocket unneccessary. $50 is expensive, but Sony keeps sending me coupons for their Sonystyle.com, so I got it for 20% off. The zipper on the case pulls open with a quick tug and opens in a clam shell fashion which keeps the camera from falling out, but is easily grasped. If I saw something I wanted to shoot, it literally takes me no longer to get it out of the case and ready, then to take it out of a pocket and ready.

Interesting you should have given the example of taking images on a rollercoaster. In my pastexperience with a fully-auto camera this is just the sort of place where images might be very poor without higher shutter speeds.

I cannot say for certain you would never get a decent image on auto, or that the W1 manual mode would be impossible to use but I think it is fair to say you would be far less likely to come back with a good set of shots without either sports or shutter priority mode.

A few posts above I gave the genuine example of my wife taking our P12 to the school sports day yesterdayand how the fast shutter mode would lift the shutter speeds out of the range where images would likely be blurred. How right I was because she forgot to turn the camera to the sports mode and just left it in manual!

With less than perfect weather, and shots taken in the shade of big trees, the result is that about 60% ofthe imagesare useless due to motion blur...either camera shake or subject motion.

Many of the shots are at shutter speeds of 1/100, a good few at 1/80 and some at 1/60. Bear in mind they aremostly on full 3x zoom and you'll realise there was never a chance they would come out well.

Had the fast shutter mode been selected the shutter speed would likely not have dropped below 1/250 and 90% of the shots would have been fine.

I would be doubtful it would be possible to reset the W1manual exposure split second by split second as a rollercoaster moved through different lighting conditions.

No I don't think you are asking too much from these compact cameras, if you get the right one. Of course the P100 would be easier to use in your rollercoaster example because the fast shutter mode should do it all automatically. Do bear in mind that if you find the manual mode does suit you in some circumstances the P100 has it as well.

Please excuse me starting right from the simplest view, I have no idea of your level of understanding!

Go back to the days of film camera if you will. To get a properly exposed photograph in any particular level of light the camera could have two settings changed. The shutter speed which determines how long the film was exposed to the light...a shorter shutter speed and less light. And the aperture which is how big a hole the lens sets to let in the light...a larger hole (smaller aperture number)gives more light.

Different combinations of shutter/aperture settings (fast shutter added to a large aperture could be the same as a slow shutter and a small aperture)could end up with the same properly exposed image. The above settings are just the same in operation with a digital camera.

There is one added factor with film, the sensitivity or ISO rating of the films. As an example you could select films of ISO ratings 100, 200 or 400. The higher the figure the more sensitive the film. This would mean that for a given lighting situation a faster shutter speed could be used with a higher ISO film. Digital cameras have the ability to set their electronic ISO, either manually or usually left to auto.

In the early days of my film camera use I would have to take a light reading and work out the available range of shutter/aperture settings that would correctly expose the image for the particular film sensitivity I was using. In the latter days of course both the SLR and compact film cameras became auto operation.

The problem with auto operation is that you are relying on a program of settings determined at the design stage of the camera for the average type of use the maker expected the average owner to need.

Where this can soon fall down is in an example where, as above, folks want to freeze action.

Going back to the middle days of my film camera use there was the facility to set either a particular shutter speed, or an aperture, and then the camera would automatically change the other setting to get a correct exposure. This was called "Shutter Priority"or "Aperture Priority" and very useful.

If you knew you wanted a specific shutter speed of say 1/500th to freeze action in the way you wanted then that setting would be fixed (Shutter Priority) and the camera would adjust the aperture up and down for perfect images...as long as the light fell within that range...it usually did if your planning was OK.

For me and many others this is a better option than the camera fast shutter or sports mode that may, in some circumstances, set an even higher shutter speed than you want.

For my own balance of advancedpoint &amp; shootcircumstances first I would wish for both these priority modes, second choice would be one with manual &amp; sports mode, third would be a sports mode only and last choicea manual mode only (ie the W1).